KALAMAZOO, MI — As a teacher, Dusty Farmer has taken her share of ribbing for her "summer vacations."

Those breaks are often cut short, she says, to work with students needing to complete summer makeup work or additional credits. She figures the state Legislature, which left for its summer break earlier this month without approving a funding package for Michigan's deteriorating roads, should adopt a similar approach.

"I have a commitment to them," Farmer said of her students. "Just like legislators should have the commitment to their citizens to not go on break until the job's done."

The group also called on Congress to pass a new federal highway bill. The Highway Trust Fund, which returns more than $1 billion in federal gas tax collections to Michigan each year, is nearly depleted and could be exhausted by late August or September if Congress does not figure out a way to replenish it.

Nearly 40 percent of Michigan roads are currently in poor condition, according to information from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Additionally roughly 28.9 percent of Michigan bridges, including the one at Sprinkle and I-94, are either structurally deficient or failing.

State Rep. Sean McCann said from Friday's Michigan Laborers news conference that numbers are unacceptable, adding that the same data shows the average Michigan driver pays an additional $357 per year in avoidable repairs and operating costs. McCann, D-Kalamazoo, said he is unsure why the Legislature went on its three-month break without having first approved a road funding package.

The state Senate recently rejected a plan that would have eventually generated a projected $1.5 billion a year for roads, primarily by phasing in gas and diesel tax increases through 2018 then allowing the rate to rise with inflation. Some road funding advocates say even that would have been too little as Michigan's true annual need for maintenance and future improvements lies closer to $2 billion.

Not everyone agrees that the Legislature must or should act now.

"I think that's what the citizens would like to see, although I don't know from a timing prospective if at that point in time bringing a bunch of money into the process would ensure improving our roads this year," David Maturen, who chairs the Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners, said during a June 16 interview with the Kalamazoo Gazette and WMUK-FM's West Southwest program.

"I've heard folks from the County Road Association of Michigan talk about it's almost too late now, if we don't get the funding soon, it's too late to start road work this year," said Maturen, a Republican from Brady Township who is a candidate for the 63rd District state House seat.

Nick Schirripa, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation's Southwest Region, says that while the agency would love to see additional funding, it will do what it can with the available dollars.

"Year after year, we will do our best," Schirripa said. "But what people need to understand is that our best is becoming increasingly less effective because we're getting increasingly less funding. Our funding is so short every year that our best is falling increasingly short of what the public expects us to deliver."

MDOT this year began a two-year, $21.5 million reconstruction of the U.S. 131 interchange at Stadium Drive and reconstruction of Stadium. Next year, it will begin a roughly $15 million project to replace the failing Sprinkle Road bridge over I-94, including roundabouts on the north and south sides.

During an open house Thursday hosted by MDOT, that project got a less than enthusiastic response from some area business owners who fear the construction will harm their businesses and the roundabouts will create confusion and safety issues.

"It's going to dramatically affect, obviously, travelers being able to find our business," said Anant Patel, owner of the Candlewood Suites on Retail Place Drive, located off Sprinkle just south of I-94.

But, Schirripa said extensive of community input and research went into the project and MDOT engineers are confident the roundabouts will improve both traffic flow and safety. He said business owners should be grateful that the road infrastructure is being upgraded.

"It's easy to stand up and yell and say we're doing it wrong," the MDOT spokesman said of the project. "The claim is that it will have a negative impact on their livelihood. Potentially. Do you want to keep your business open? You'll find a way to make it work."

One person who isn't complaining about the project is Jonathan Byrd, legislative director for the Michigan Laborers, which represents interests of construction workers. "Whether it's roundabouts, whether it's fixing the bridges or figuring out traffic patterns, we just want to get to work," he said.